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Michelle Payne of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department holds a dose of Narcan, a nasal spray which can be used to instantly counteract an opioid overdose. Sheriff's deputies in Santa Clarita will be the first in Los Angeles County carry the life-saving drug on patrol. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

A Sheriff's Department photo of a portion of one of the large drug busts Santa Clarita Valley deputies made in April. At a press conference Wednesday, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced that Sheriff's deputies in Santa Clarita will be the first in Los Angeles county carry the life-saving opioid overdose drug Narcan on patrol. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

After a batch of heroin led to eight overdoses within a 72-hour span, officials with one Los Angeles County community vowed Wednesday to step up the fight to stop opioid and heroin abuse with more enforcement, education, and intervention.

In April, the Santa Clarita Valley saw the spike of heroin overdoses among residents ages 19 to 26.

None of the overdoses resulted in fatalities, but the drug contained traces of fentanyl — an opioid more potent that morphine — and investigators believed it came from the San Fernando Valley.

An investigation that involved several different narcotic operations between May 2 and May 25 resulted in six arrests. During that investigation almost a pound of heroin was seized along with $10,000 in cash. Two cars found with hidden traps to conceal the heroin were also confiscated, said Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Captain Robert Lewis.

Since that operation, over the course of past seven weeks, there were 39 arrests of narcotic dealers and more than 2 1/2 pounds of heroin seized, he said.

“I want to send a message to those of you providing drugs to the residents of Santa Clarita,” Lewis said during a news conference. “No more. We’re here to provide the enforcement against you. We’ll be looking for you.”

Officials with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station will be among the first across Los Angeles County to carry a potentially life-saving nasal spray known on the market as Narcan. The spray reverses the effects of overdoses related to painkillers, heroin and most recently a synthetic version of fentanyl, a drug that’s up to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Earlier this month, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced more than 1,300 doses will be available to deputies. A grant obtained through a network with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will help provide at least 5,000 more doses so that more field deputies will have the medicine.

“Our first responders of law enforcement are often the first to arrive on a scene of a medical emergency like an overdose but until now, have not been equipped with the means to immediately respond to an overdose,” said Los Angeles County Supervisors Kathryn Barger. “These deputies based at the Santa Clarita station will have a vital tool to help victims survive and have another chance to survive.”

Such overdoses continue to increase in the state and nationwide. Experts say it is a result of young people first becoming addicted to painkillers then, when those are unavailable, moving on to heroin.

In California, 412 adults age 20 to 29 went to emergency rooms due to heroin during the first three months of 2016, according to recent state data. That’s double the number for the same time period in 2012.

Overall, emergency room visits among heroin users of all ages increased, but the sharpest was among the state’s young adults. About 1,500 emergency department visits by California’s millennials poisoned by heroin were logged in 2015 compared with fewer than 1,000 in 2012.

Emergency responders, those who work in recovery programs, and parents of children addicted to heroin have said the figures are unsurprising given the increase in prescription painkiller abuse that likely has led more young people to use heroin.

“One of the unintended consequences of this prescription drug epidemic has been the increase in heroin addiction and overdoses, in part due to the transition from prescription opioids to less expensive heroin street drugs,” state health officials said this year. “Heroin deaths have continued to increase steadily by 67 percent since 2006 and account for a growing share of the total opioid-related deaths.”

There were 269 opioid-related deaths in Los Angeles in 2015, the last year for which data were available, according to a statewide database.

Sheriff’s Commander Judy Gerhardt told reporters her 23-year-old nephew died of a heroin overdose in December, just a few months after he was prescribed painkillers for an injury he sustained in a car accident.

Gerhardt and her daughter Michelle, who also works at the Sheriff’s Department, helped work on the Narcan pilot program. She said her nephew was one of 50,000 who lost their lives last year to the opioid epidemic.

Gerhardt said she wanted the community to know that after someone has survived an overdose, help is available throughout the community.

“We want to let them know there’s hope and that treatment is available and that they can recover,” she said. “They can go on to live productive lives.”